It winds its way around my frame,
ribs become my heart’s cage, 
tired mind, shaking hands, cold feet:
no part of me is out of reach.

The python’s coil becomes tighter,
unbearable, inescapable.
The walls transform to thickset fog 
that burns my lungs as I breathe.

I cannot move, cannot think,
cannot focus on anything but smooth 
cold scales slithering over my skin
like a deep-boned shiver.

Broken breaths fight through 
until they stop.
My heart clenches, and then finally
it releases.

The tip of a sharp deadly fang
grazes my knee, reminding me 
the python is curling around my feet,
where it stays, where it waits, where it feasts.

Image by Will